If your campaign plan depends on something that has never happened before, you're a long shot.

That's one of our favorite political axioms because it's usually right. When it's wrong, it's often as much a surprise to the winners as anyone else.

But there's always an enticing theory out there, like Tony Sanchez's wager that the state's demographics had changed enough to elect a Hispanic Democrat with a bottomless bank account. Or Carole Keeton Strayhorn's bet that Republicans and Democrats were tired enough of their own parties to go for an independent for governor. Or the nutty idea that the Democrats could sweep the Dallas County elections two years ago... the one shocker in that trio that actually came true.

The voting boom in the Texas primaries is the source of this year's pipe dreams. Who were all those people? Will they come back? Are Democrats resurrecting themselves after years in the political wilderness or was that Clinton-Obama thing just a bump in the road?

There's no knowing until the returns are in. But there are theories:

• Democrats got a rare chance to boost interest, voter registration, and the quality of their voter databases and should be able to convert that into bigger than normal numbers in November.

• Republican numbers will hold up better in November because their March turnout wasn't artificially driven up by a one-time fight or by the sort of political spending that goes with that kind of fight. The national Democratic candidates were working the state, staging massive ground wars, and won't be back for a similar fight in November. This is basically the idea that March was a glitch and that things will mostly snap back to normal in November.

• Democratic turnout will hold up, but will do better in places where Obama won in March than in places where Clinton was the favorite in the primaries.

• It doesn't matter if more Democrats come to the polls in November, because the number who vote for president and then stop voting was so high in March; downballot Democrats won't get any love.

• Much of the turnout in the primaries — the Democrats got all the attention, but the Republican numbers set records, too — were borrowed from November. The primary looked like a balloon, according to this one, because November Democrats and November Republicans came out in March. The November numbers will be closer to normal.

Primary Dissection

We started picking apart some primary numbers last month, when statewide district-by-district numbers became available from the Texas Legislative Council. It's the first publicly available look at how the Democratic and Republican primaries went, sliced by congressional, Senate, and House districts.

We knew the day after the election, for example, that Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama in all but 24 of the state's 254 counties. But that's based on geography and not population. So when you look at political districts based on population, the view changes. Obama won in 13 of the state Senate districts. He won in 14 of the 32 congressional districts. And he won in 69 of the 150 House districts.

McCain got more votes than Obama in 29 House districts, six Senate districts, and two congressional districts. He got more votes than Clinton in 20 districts, two Senate districts, and one congressional district. All of those are held by Republican lawmakers.

Republicans outvoted Democrats in 16 of the state's House districts (Berman, Merritt, Eissler, Hilderbran, Creighton, Delisi, Keffer, King, Macias, West, Craddick, Jones, Smithee, Swinford, Chisum, and Van Arsdale), though they were getting outvoted statewide by a better than 2-to-1 margin. That happened in two Senate districts (Fraser, Seliger), and in three congressional districts (Conaway, Neugebauer, Thornberry). Not surprisingly, each lawmaker in office from those districts is a Republican.

In 32 House districts — all held by Democrats — the turnout in the Democratic primary exceeded the total turnout in the 2006 general election. More people in those districts voted in this year's Democratic primary than in the last general election for governor. In one House district, the primary vote also exceeded turnout in the 2004 presidential general election; that was HD-31, Guillen. And in 54 House districts, the combined Republican/Democratic primary turnouts exceeded the 2006 general election turnout. Democratic voters outdid 2006 voters in seven congressional districts and seven Senate districts.

We charted the numbers for the House, Senate, and Congress. For the true political nerds, we put the whole spreadsheet online so you can fool with the numbers. Holler if you find something interesting.

Suit Up

Two late entrants — a Democrat and a Republican — signed up at the deadline for the SD-17 contest to replace Kyle Janek — one of them prompting a lawsuit in the process.

That's one of three special elections on the November ballot, and the only one that'll determine a term of more than a few weeks. Janek, a Houston Republican, resigned earlier this summer. The race for the remaining two years of his term now includes four Republicans and two Democrats.

And one of the Democrats, Chris Bell, filed suit challenging the residency of the other, Stephanie Simmons, saying she voted in Harris County in March but said on her candidate forms that she has lived in Fort Bend County for at least 11 months. Her voting record, according to Bell, has been tied to a Harris County address for at least 14 years. More to the point, the Fort Bend address is in the Senate district and the Harris County address is not. That, according to Bell's suit, is a disqualifier that ought to knock her off the special election ballot. Simmons didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

That would make him the only Democrat in the race, which also features Republicans Austen Furse, Grant Harpold, Joan Huffman, and Ken Sherman (the other late entrant). Unlike the general election races on the same day, this will go to a runoff if no candidate breaks 50 percent on Election Day.

State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky set a hearing on all that for Monday in Austin.

The other two specials are for House seats and the winners will hold them only until new legislative terms begin in January. Still, they could get a small edge over the rest of the freshman class if they win — an edge that could result in stuff like better furniture, parking spaces and offices. And if you don't think that matters in a body formed on pecking orders, you've never watched chickens.

In HD-81, Republican Tryon Lewis of Odessa is the only candidate who signed up for the special election. He defeated the late Rep. George "Buddy" West in the March GOP primary. West, who was already ailing at the time, died several weeks later. Lewis is on the ballot for the general election, too, running against Libertarian Elmo Hockman of Odessa.

And in HD-55, where Rep. Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, resigned, three candidates will compete for the remaining weeks of her term. That field includes R. "Danny" Daniel, an independent; Sam Murphey, a Democrat; and Ralph Sheffield, a Republican. Daniel isn't in the regular election for that seat, which will be held the same day and will determine the winner of a full term in the seat. And Chris Lane, the Libertarian on the general election ballot, didn't sign up for the special.

Calling Names

An Austin judge set a post-election trial date for the Texas Association of Business, which is accused of illegal electioneering in two dozen 2002 legislative races. The timing could have an effect in this year's elections, as almost a dozen candidates have their names on this year's ballots and also in the indictments.

The case, winding through the courts for the last six years, is over TAB's efforts on behalf of Republican legislative candidates that year. The business group's political action committee issued a slew of mailings touting those candidates and/or criticizing their opponents, and they used corporate money doing so. TAB's lawyers say the advertising was legal "educational material" that didn't direct voters what to do with the information. Prosecutors contend the adverts were intended to influence the election and, because corporate money was used, were illegal.

It's hard to tell whether that's good or bad news for the candidates whose names have been linked — directly or indirectly — to the case. But some of their opponents are already teeing up on the names listed in the latest version of the indictment. None are charged — they're just listed, by name, as the candidates TAB was assisting in that election six year ago. Still, that's enough content for political mail.

The first such shot came from Democrat Ernie Casbeer of Oglesby, who's challenging Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville. Miller's one of the candidates who benefitted from (but like the others, isn't accused of coordinating his efforts with) TAB. Here's the headline on a recent press release from the Democrat's camp: "Sid Miller Named In Criminal Indictment For Illegal Campaign Cash." We haven't seen other mailers, but there are several current officeholders in the list of 24 candidates TAB helped in 2002: Reps. Betty Brown of Terrell, Mike Hamilton of Mauriceville, Dan Flynn of Van, Bryan Hughes of Mineola, Byron Cook of Corsicana, Miller, Wayne Christian of Center, Larry Taylor of Friendswood, Rick Hardcastle of Vernon, Bill Zedler of Arlington, and Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville (who's not on the ballot this year). The rest of the candidates on the list have either left the Legislature or never got in.

That trial is tentatively set for November 10, a date that takes the court out of the election cycle while leaving the issue right in the middle of it. While there won't be a trial to muddy the campaign season, there won't be a verdict that could possibly clear (or sink) everyone involved before voters do their business.

Leaky Spigot

Auditors found holes in the payrolls of some of the biggest state agencies.

Five Health and Human Services agencies: Department of Aging and Disability Services, Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Family and Protective Services, Department of State Health Services, and the Health and Human Services Commission.

Five numbers: 5.77 percent, 7.31 percent, 10.09 percent, 2.95 percent, and 6.55 percent.

Connect those lists respectively and you have the percentage of terminated employees who were overpaid in each of those agencies in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, according to the State Auditor's Office.

The agencies employ around 50,000 people and have a combined annual payroll of $2.2 billion. The agencies, according to SAO, paid $738,192 to 1,229 people after those folks were no longer employed by the state. That's an average of $600.64 per person.

In their official response, which is part of the SAO report, HHSC officials said they've recovered $414,427 of the overpaid money and are in pursuit of the balance.

Debates, Matchmakers, and Money

It's starting to be debate season, by which we mean that the candidates are throwing sand over whether and when and how frequently they'll appear together in public so voters and political voyeurs can compare and contrast the competitors.

Pete Olson, running against U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, says it's not right that Lampson has agreed to only one debate, and in Clear Lake. That's an affront, according to the Republican challenger, to Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston. Olson wants to debate in all four districts in the county.

Ernie Casbeer wants to debate Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, so he can ask him in public about the Texas Association of Business indictments in which Miller is mentioned along with 24 other candidates. No resolution there yet.

And Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, says former Rep. Todd Hunter, his Republican challenger, backed out of a debate scheduled for September 22.

• Garcia's campaign (along with others) is touting a match offered by Austin Sen. Kirk Watson, who's taking sort of a Sally Struthers approach to legislative elections. He's got a website — AdoptAHouseCandidate.com — listing 26 Texas House candidates and offering to match small donations. He's capping his matches at $5,000 and is asking donors to give $20.08. They're all Democrats, as he is, and his list includes four challengers, six open set candidates and 16 incumbents. That's a way, among other things, to stack up favors if you want to someday run for statewide office. Not that anyone's saying anything like that.

• Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst already has a statewide office, but he, like U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, is helping Texas statehouse candidates raise money. His latest assist goes to Mike Anderson, the former Mesquite mayor who beat Rep. Thomas Latham in the primaries. Anderson has a Democratic opponent, Robert Miklos, in a contest targeted by both parties.

• A Republican consultant fired up a website taunting Democrats who've received contributions from Dallas attorney Fred Baron. GiveTheMoneyBack.com belongs to Anthony Holm, who works for the Austin-based Patriot Group and also is the media rep for Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. Baron is the biggest contributor to Texas Democrats; Perry is the biggest contributor to Texas Republicans. He says candidates who got money from Baron ought to pay it back now that Baron has admitted paying to relocate a woman who had an affair with former presidential candidate John Edwards. Baron's money overwhelmingly goes to Democrats (see here and here), but there are a couple of other names on his list from a couple of election cycles back: Baron gave $2,000 to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in 2003, and Baron & Budd, his law firm (he's sold his interest) gave $5,000 each to Dewhurst and to House Speaker Tom Craddick in 2003 and 2002, respectively.

Political People and Their Moves

Two top state police officials are leaving. Lt. Col. David McEathron, assistant director of the Department of Public Safety, and Chief Randy Elliston, who heads the highway patrol, both retired at the end of August. Meanwhile, the board there named one of the buildings at the DPS campus in Austin after the just-retired director of the agency: What used to be Building A is now the Colonel Thomas A. Davis Jr. Building.

Cherie Townsend is the new executive editor of the Texas Youth Commission, or will be on October 1. She's been running the Clark County (Nevada) Juvenile Services agency and was director of Juvenile Court Services in Maricopa County, Arizona (that's Phoenix), but worked for TYC for 18 years earlier in her career.

Ben Delgado moves over to the Department of Family and Protective Services, presumably for just a little while, as interim commissioner while they're doing a search for a permanent leader. He's the former COO at that agency and has been the agency's interim chief once before. He's normally at the Department of State Health Services, where he's the associate commissioner.

After a year of teaching (in Mesquite), Janiece Crenwelge is rejoining Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, as a legislative aide. She worked for him in the last legislative session.

James Bernsen, who moves around more than a beagle with fleas (we kid), is the new press secretary to House Speaker Tom Craddick. His boss and the new communications director is Alexis DeLee, who's been wrangling reporters up to now (and will still be the main spokesperson). And Chris Cutrone gets a new assignment, too: He's the media relations liaison for the House, working with members who need media help.

Officially now: John Sneed is leaving Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's employ to become interim executive director of the State Preservation Board.

Gov. Rick Perry named three new directors to the board of the San Jacinto River Authority, all of them owners of businesses named for themselves: David Kleimann of Willis, R. Gary Montgomery of The Woodlands, and Lloyd Tisdale of Conroe. Montgomery and Tisdale are being reappointed to the board.

Perry named five board members for the Nueces River Authority: Fernanda Camarillo of Boerne, an engineer; Manuel Cano, a Corpus Christi homebuilding exec; Robert Dullnig of San Antonio, an exec with Presidio Financial Services, Gary Jones, vice president at South Texas Children's Home, and Roxana Tom, a CPA and rancher from Campbellton.

Indicted: U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Galveston, on charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of his court's former case manager.

Quotes of the Week

Charlie Black, an advisor to John McCain, talking to The New York Times about Sarah Palin's lack of foreign policy experience: "She's going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he'll be around at least that long."

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, quoted by the Houston Chronicle on whether her home state cost her consideration as a vice presidential nominee: "I think that people have the image that Texas is maybe too big for its britches sometimes," she said. "I've read pundits say that my being from Texas was a deterrent, but of course I'd rather be in Texas than anywhere."

Republican guru Karl Rove, quoted by the Austin American-Statesman from his talk to Texas delegates at the GOP national convention on the subject of Republican seats in the Texas House: "Let's admit it. We lost a little bit of our mojo."

Author Tom Woods, quoted by the Houston Chronicle from his speech at the Ron Paul counter-rally in Minneapolis: "Once in a while the two parties get together and do something stupid and evil, and that's called bipartisanship."

Harrold ISD Superintendent David Thweatt, talking to The New York Times about the decision to let teachers and others carry guns at school: "Our people just don't want their children to be fish in a bowl. Country people are take-care-of-yourself people. They are not under the illusion that the police are there to protect them."

Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, quoted in the McAllen Monitor about Froylen Casares, a Honduran employee at Flores' ranch who is accused of killing another man with a baseball bat: "He was preppy. He looked the part. No indication. He fit in extremely well, he had family members here. It just looks bad in general. I certainly don't want to go around challenging people's status."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 25, Issue 34, 8 September 2008. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2008 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

A former state employee is under investigation for removing personal records of state lottery winners and lottery employees while he was working at the Texas Lottery Commission. The person worked at the Texas Lottery Commission and then for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, where the information theft was discovered. His name wasn't released, but officials at that agency responded to questions about the matter by referring to an ongoing investigation by Travis County prosecutors. But a spokesman for the comptroller's office confirmed the investigation. "The Comptroller’s office is working with the Travis County District Attorney’s office on a criminal investigation of a former employee who possessed confidential personal identifying information that was obtained while previously employed at another state agency," said R.J. DeSilva. "It is a felony violation of state law to possess this information without consent." Sources say the electronic data was taken from the Lottery and uncovered by an internal audit at that agency. The employee went on to a job at the comptroller's office, and the problem apparently came to light when he used state computers there to store the data. The auditor's report wasn't immediately available. The Lottery issued a statement acknowledging the investigation for "alleged unauthorized possession of data by a former Texas Lottery Commission employee" and saying the information that was stolen involves "certain TLC employees, certain licensed retailers, and certain prize winners." It's not clear just what information was in the files, but lottery officials said they're sending letters to every "potentially affected parties." One potential twist: The records were breached some time ago — the internal audit was apparently completed early this summer — and the people whose records were stolen are only now finding out about it. Not all prize winners are on record, but the lottery keeps information on people who win $600 or more for federal tax purposes. And records of employees and retailers potentially includes direct deposit and other banking information.

An Austin judge left the special election ballot in SD-17 alone — voters there will choose from four Republicans and two Democrats. And if nobody can get the votes they need to win in the first round, they'll face a runoff between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That's potentially bad news for Democrat Chris Bell, who sued late last week to try to knock Stephanie Simmons off the ballot. He said she doesn't live in the district and can't run. A state district judge in Austin told her he wasn't convinced of her honesty about residency and voting in the wrong places, but left the ballot alone.

One theory is that Bell has a better chance of winning on Election Day if he's the only Democrat and the four Republicans split the conservative vote. Another is that Simmons, who is Black, could benefit from a large turnout (if there is one) for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Another: It's Republican territory and it doesn't matter how many Democrats run because the GOP's candidates have an edge. Another: Bell's still the best-known name on the ballot. And one more: It doesn't matter all that much. Kyle Janek, a Republican, resigned from that state Senate seat earlier this summer. If recent history is a guide, Republican candidates should have the edge. But it's a competitive district, and a Democrat prevailed in a special election runoff last year in Fort Worth, on more reliably Republican turf. That raised Democratic hopes and Republican guards.

The four Republicans in the race are Austen Furse, Grant Harpold, Joan Huffman, and Ken Sherman. Huffman, a former judge, is the only member of that quartet who's had her name on the ballot before, and as of the last reports, she was the best-financed candidate in the race (highest cash on hand, at $750,182).

A poll done for Huffman's campaign has her leading the Republicans in the race. And it says Bell, who's the best-known candidate, is either unknown or disliked by two-thirds of the voters in the district. She's got Bell at 41 percent, herself at 12 percent, and everyone else lagging behind. The Huffman spin? It's a two-candidate race, and Bell is a "wounded duck."

They say good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

The fall political season in Texas hit a snag right at the starting gate, as candidates dropped the usual stuff and replaced it with storm warnings and assistance and all that jazz. But some of that has — dare we say it — political benefits. There's something to be said for reminding people why they elected you. And there are reasonable people in office who saw the political aftermath of the FUBAR approach by local, state, and federal governments when Katrina hit.

With that in mind, what follows is a scattershot version of what some state officials are doing about the storm. It's not complete or comprehensive; the idea is to give you a quick survey of what political and government people were up to as Hurricane Ike crossed the Gulf of Mexico.

Gov. Rick Perry suspended the collection of state and local hotel and motel taxes for two weeks and he backdated that to the beginning of the week... Mandatory evacuations were underway in a slew of counties: Brazoria, Galveston, Jefferson, Orange, Chambers, and parts of Harris and Matagorda. Voluntary evacuations were on in Hardin, Jackson, and Victoria counties... The state put 7,500 members of the Texas Guard and 500 state troopers in place for the storms, helped move people in hospitals and state schools and prisons in the projected storm path... Utility crews went on notice... A "strike team" for hazardous waste problems that might develop went into place...

Almost 300 school buses from outside the storm area were sent by the state and by Dallas ISD to help move people. That's part of a contingent of around 1,350 buses available for this... The state's Department of Transportation was ready to convert highways for evacuations (which can mean running cars on both sides of the freeway in the same direction to get out of heavily populated areas like, say, Houston)... The Texas Supreme Court canceled hearings on legal aid services for the poor... Texas Parks & Wildlife canceled public teal and alligator hunts along the coast and in East Texas. That agency put 200 game wardens in place to help out and had the rest of them — 300 more — on alert...

President George W. Bush put FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security on the case, allowing them to assist financially and otherwise in 25 specified counties. The state's own disaster list covers 88 counties that might be affected... The Texas Banking Department said state-chartered banks can ignore state laws about holidays and close up for the storm — that's against the law without a waiver...

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, replaced his regular email about official activities with a list of things to do when a hurricane is coming and evacuation directions... Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, suspended campaign stuff (it's a tough fight against former Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi) to visit the South Texas Nuclear Project and emergency operation planners in and near his district, and like Ellis, his newsletter to constituents and political supporters came complete with evacuation instructions. Hunter, who just started a radio and TV ad campaign, suspended it with the storm coming... Rep. Solomon Ortiz Jr. went with hurricanes in his constituent emails, dropping any mention of other state business...

Texas Railroad Commissioners Victor Carrillo, Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams got into it with a reminder to secure propane tanks and appliances in the storm path... Comptroller Susan Combs, who'd planned to announce her new prepaid college tuition plan in Edinburg, moved that to Austin since South Texas was preoccupied with storm prep... Attorney General Greg Abbott announced "Operation Safe Shelter," in which his office will tell people running storm shelters whether any of their residents are in the state's sex offender database...

And another well-known state operation — the University of Texas at Austin — moved its football game against Arkansas from this weekend to September 27. That gets them out of the way, maybe frees Austin rooms for evacuees, and saves the Razorbacks a trip through heavy weather (it's just an example, too; the storm already wrecked high school, college and pro schedules in a number of sports from football to soccer to baseball).

Now they wait. And there's a special section on the governor's website if you want complete or specific info about the state's hurricane prep.

The state's got a new way for parents to lock in current college tuition and required fees and to sock away money to pay for junior's higher education.

But with deregulated tuition rates and rising college costs, it's a lot more expensive than the plan it replaced. And it doesn't carry the same constitutional guarantee as the old program, either.

One year of prepaid tuition at a top public university in Texas now costs more than four times what it cost when the state's first such program started in 1996.

Even so, it could be attractive to people who want to freeze current rates and get a start on paying for college for their kids and grandkids. The new Texas Tuition Promise Fund lets families freeze tuition rates for state colleges and community colleges for students who are at least three years from entering college. Either the beneficiary or the purchaser has to be a Texas resident.

The original Texas Tomorrow Fund carries a constitutional guarantee. Purchasers who paid for four years of college get four years of college even if their investment doesn't cover the price. Because voters approved that guarantee, the state has to make up the difference. That plan was closed to new purchasers when the Legislature deregulated college tuition; the actuaries couldn't set priced based on rates they were unable to predict. In the new plan, approved by the Legislature in 2007, the universities have to make up any difference between the top-priced plans and actual tuition rates. But the schools are units of the state; the legal difference is that the Legislature isn't constitutionally required to give parents what they pay for, and neither are the schools.

There are three flavors in the new program, which is run by Comptroller Susan Combs and operated by a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Funds. Type 1 pays for credits at any public college or university in the state, even the most expensive one (whatever that is at the time). Type 2 pays the average cost of four-year public schools in Texas, which would cover all of the costs at many schools, but not at the most expensive ones. Type 3 covers average tuition and fees at public community colleges (two-year schools) in Texas. Details of this, the original plan that's no longer being offered, and the state's 529 education savings plan, are online at this link.

It's expensive as all get-out, but that's not the fund's fault — blame the Legislature and the universities who set the prices and funding for public higher education. Four years at a top-price school would cost $39,400 in a lump sum plan paid now for a kid born at the beginning of this month (it was under $9,000 in the original prepaid tuition plan).

At an average four-year school, it'd cost $27,060 (that would pay the average price to any school, and you'd keep what's left from a cheaper school and have to write a check for the remainder at a more expensive one). Two years at a community college, paid in a lump sum, would be $3,398. Buyers can pay over time: The wunderkind in our example would cost $351.57 a month from now until high school graduation on her way to a top-price school; the monthly payment for four years of an average cost university would be $241.46. And buyers could opt to pay for less than four years.

They can also use the plan's online calculator to figure out what colleges are most and least expensive. That four-year Type 2 contract, for instance, would get you four year at the University of North Texas, 4.57 years at the University of Texas at El Paso, 3.99 years at Texas Tech University, 3.45 years at Texas A&M University, and 2.89 years at the University of Texas at Austin business school.

The Legislature could add some things when it meets next year. Top of the list: Saving money for technical and trade schools, and funding a provision of the law creating state matching funds for poorer students who can't save enough to cover all of the costs of higher education.

Lobbyists in Texas got paid as much as $348 million last year, according to the latest lobby spending report from Texans for Public Justice. That outfit says spending during the 2007 legislative session was up 15 percent from the 2005 session. By their count, 1,629 lobbyists had 8,166 contracts with 2,706 different clients. Utility lobby clients were the biggest on the list; TXU's corporate takeover earned lobbyists up to $14 million, and AT&T's lobby spending totaled as much as $10.2 million. The state doesn't require exact reporting from lobbyists. They report a range within which their contracts fall, and TPJ uses the maximum value in each range for its biennial reports. They counted 31 clients who spent a total of up to $69 million, or about one of every five dollars spent lobbying in the state. Likewise, 28 lobbyists made up to 19 percent of all the money spent, earning up to $67 million from their clients.

• Texas Democrats are taking swats at U.S. House candidate Lyle Larson, a Bexar County commissioner who's promising to serve no more than six terms (12 years) if he beats U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. The Democrats dug up a 1996 story in the San Antonio Express-News where Larson, now in his third commissioner term, said he'd serve no more than two terms there.

• Todd Hunter, the former Democratic state rep running now as a Republican, has pulled together a "Democrats for Todd" group led by former Rep. Hugo Berlanga, who with former Rep. Judy Hawley, is the Hunter campaign co-chair. Berlanga and Hawley are both Democrats who served with Hunter. Berlanga's now a lobbyist. Incidental, but interesting: Hunter's signs in the district say he's conservative, but don't say he's Republican. No party label is listed.

• Republican Greg Meyers picked up an endorsement from the Harris County Deputies Organization. Meyers, a Houston school board member, is challenging Democratic Rep. Hubert Vo.

• Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, got the endorsement of a political action committee representing three nursing groups. The Texas RN/APN PAC is affiliated with the Texas Nurses Association, the Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and the Coalition for Nurses in Advanced Practice. Oh, and she used to be a critical care nurse. She also picked up endorsements from PACs affiliated with the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association.

• Republican Pete Olson launched a web attack at U.S. Rep. NickLampson, D-Stafford, firing up NicksDCTricks.com. The home page reads, "Dedicated to a master political illusionist," and there are links to Olson's website and to his fundraising and volunteer sections at the bottom of every page.

• Political matching programs seem to be multiplying. Now, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, says he'll match contributions to the House Democratic Campaign Committee, up to $20,000.08. His pitch? That's the only organization trying to win a Democratic majority in the Texas House (they'd need to win five seats to do that) and protecting endangered Democratic incumbents. And Democrat Sherrie Matula, who's running against Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, is trying to raise enough money to get a $10,000 matching grant from Annie's List.

• The HDCC has a couple of ads up on their web site, but doesn't have immediate plans to put them on the air. One slights the Republicans in charge in the state for their "opposition to clean air and clean water laws." It doesn't point at the Legislature or at the House; the ad is aimed at Republicans in general. The other lists "failures" of GOP officeholders on issues like children's health insurance, college tuition, insurance and utility rates. And it ends with the line Republican Wendell Willkie used when he ran against President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940: "Had enough?"

• Officially, now that the conventions are all over: Barack Obama got 123 votes from Texas Democrats at their convention, to 96 for Hillary Clinton. Thus endeth the Texas Two-Step.

Brandy Marty is Gov. Rick Perry's new liaison to the Texas House. She's worked for the Guv, for several legislators, and as a teaching assistant in law school for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She'll join David Eichler, her counterpart in the Senate.

Clay Brewer has been assigned to follow Mike Berger around at the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife so he can figure out what Berger does every day. Berger, director of the agency's Wildlife Division, is retiring next month. Brewer, a regional director now stationed in Brownwood, will be acting director while a national search to replace Berger is finished.

And then there were none: John Moritz, the last reporter left in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Austin bureau, decided to take a buyout offer from that shrinking newspaper. That had been what other reporters regarded as a dangerous (meaning: competitive) gang of newsies. But R.A. "Jake" Dyer left in a round of layoffs earlier this summer and Jay Root split for the Associated Press. That leaves an empty office.

Bracewell & Giuliani hired former San Antonio Chamber CEO Joe Krier to help start a new Public Issues Management Group within the firm. Krier was at the chamber for 20 years. He'll be joined in that practice by Milam Mabry, who is moving to the firm's Austin office from its operation in Washington, D.C.

Gov. Perry appointed Frank Bryan Jr. of Austin, Karen Gordon of Port O'Connor, and Shari Waldie of Fredericksburg to the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners. Bryan is an attorney. Gordon and Waldie are physical therapists.

The Guv named Charlotte Foster of Houston to the State Preservation Board. She's a retired petroleum engineer. While we're here, that board hired Dealey Herndon to oversee restoration of the Governor's Mansion. She's been involved in a number of restoration projects as a private contractor, and she was director of the agency during the restoration and expansion of the State Capitol in the early 1990s.

The state's new Cancer Prevention and Research Institute elected its officers: James Mansour, president of Telephone Management of Austin, is chairman; Malcolm Gillis, a professor at Rice University, is vice chairman; and Fort Worth lawyer Dee Kelly is secretary.